Agitator for ore treatment.



Patented N ov. 7, 1916.

Il ,l IPII IIIII'II' I,. li I II Im' III II'II IHI IIIi IgI'I III II MI II Il IHM/I"I C. ROBINSONl AGIIATOR FOR ORE TREATMENTt APPLICATION FILED OCT. I. I9Io. IIEIIEwED IIIAII. 3o, IsIe.

BEST'VLBLE COP.

UNIQDED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

. crixus :alozeINsoNgl or MOUNT VERNON, New YORK, AssIeNonTo METALLURGICAL ENGINEERING a ritoonss eoRroRATIoN, A coRPonAfrIoN or NEW Yoan. I

AGITATOR FOR ORE TREATMENT. I

Specification of Letters Patent.

lPatented N ov.` 7, 1916.

Application filed October 1, 1910, Serialk No. 584,868. Renewed March l 1916. Serial No. 87,850.

To all whom t may concern .Be it known that I, Crans ROBINSON, a subject of the King. of Great 'Britain and Ireland,l residing at Mount Vernon, in .the county of Westchester :and State offNew York, have invented certainnew and useful Improvements in Agitators. for OreTreatment, of whichthefollowing, is a specification, reference being had therein to the accoinpanying-Y drawing.

his. Invention. relates to improvements in devices for. agltating ore pulp o r other mafy terialcontaining soluble ingredients toaldv the action 'f a suitabiesolvent such apots sium eyanid. L I Itis Well known that in many cssthe principal diiculties andexpense's incident to A'the ychemical extraction offmetalv values from ores is due to the necessity `lfor me? h chanically agitating the solution and ore and tothe time required `for completing the i i f processg These -diiiculties are especially prevalent .in the treatment of slimes, or of pulp containing. 'anunduly large proportion of slimes. Itis also ring a mixture of solvent solutionv and oro well known that stircontinuously does not result in more ythan approximate breaking up of thevmixture the solution and the:part1cleso' ore tend to move to ether in the same relative. positions.'

'to state that a particle of oreoontaiiti talis surrounded by a ilm ot the solut1on..and that this immediate lm orenvelop of solution becomes very quickly saturated. .The further dissolving It 1s pro ably cor of metal however practically stops until .the

lm'o" saturated solution can be removed from the particle and replaced by a. new hn I' of active solution. That this condition exists is borne out bythe fact that it is found. in plants using the percolation process thatV the firstv treatment with a strong solution nie1elyl0osens the values but does not remove them. Several, subsequent washmgs with. weaker solutions and .fresh water aie needed. to remove the values, z'. e. to break up and carryaway the films of strong value containing solution. which have formed about the ore particles.

013e ofthe' principal objects oi my invenprovide a means for andere so that the films of saturated solol tion ,are continually broken l .as shown in the drawings is up and sepa-- rated. from .the'ore particles and whereby there is positive assurance that all of the ore and Asolution receives the same treatment during the travel through the agitator.

A further object ,of my invention is vto a certain amount of oxygen is needed for the dissolving ofthe values., 7 It has even been noted vthatstron-g cyanid solutions are dlsproportionatelyl inactive, largely on acmy Invention, 'part ofthe plates'connecting" the bailleboards being' removed. Fig, 2 is a cross sectional elevation along the line 22 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a crosssectional elevation along the line 3"?) of Fig. 2. Fig. t is a diagrammatic View showing a Inodilied form of my invention.

Referring tothe drawings, l representsas a whole thetank orv reservoir into which ther material is fed and in which .it 1s treated.

2 is the inlet for the'pulpor mixture of pulverized ore and.;-solution. Before reaching the inlet the, ore rmay be properly pulverized `lbej'mill or'other'wise and mixed Ivitligthe" roperqua'ntity of, solution of potassium cyanid-` vvor lother "solvent It is to be, understoodthatthefpulp may contain both sandsfand slimes orif'preferred these ma y be Asepa r i'te"'dand,treated .in separate agrtato'rs. 'AS myfimproved"agitator is well adaptedjfor theftreatinent of,v

traction makes itadvisablefto dose. "1 -1 "1' The tank l divided into `preferably three longitudinal compartments by means of vertical parti-y tions 3 and 4.

The arrangements-of parts `Aall of thev BEST AvAsLABLE cori.

6 compartments are similar and I'will therefore particularly describeonly those in the firstcompartment shown in Fig. 2. The bottom of the compartment is saw 'toothed l in shape and is made up of'a series of boards orrplates 5, 5, inclined downward andaway from the inlet 9., and a series of boards or plates 6, 6, which join the bottoms of the plates 5, andextend diagonally upward 1o and away from the inlet 2.

7, 7 represent a series of rectangular tubes.

or open ended boxes which extend verticallliv and are positioned transversely across the compartment. The center line of each box l5 is preferably vertically above the joint between -a pair of plates 5, If preferred the boxes 7, 7 can take the form of two parallel partitions `extendingr perpendicular-ly across the compartment. The tops of the zo boxes 7 are preferably beveled and inclined downward and away from the inlet 2. Each of the plates is provided with a` rearward extension 8, which engages at its rear edges with the forward sideof the corresponding: box 7.

Above each of the boxes 9 which is inclined do\\n\\'ard and forward. Connecting the adjacent ends of each pair of baille plates i), 9 is a plate 10 which is inclined upward and iorward. lhe plates 10 may7 if preferred, bemade removable.

Between the forward side of the last box 7 and the end of the tank is locatedlan inclined discharge. board 411, which serves Si to transfer ore and solvent solution. from the first compartuu'lut to the second compartment. f

` The construction of' thel second compartment is the same as that ot' the first except 4C that all of the parts .rare-in reversed posit-ion in order to-per1nit the movement of the liquid in the opposite direction. At the. end of thel second compartment is a transfer board similar to.,11f, )vliichserves to discharge the material into ithe IthirdI compartment whichis similar in construction to the first. lhis third compartment is providedwith an outlet trough 12.

. Across the bottom, of the tank and extending through `all threel compartments is a series ot parallel ytransverse pipes 13, 13, each pipe being located vertically beneath the bottom ofmne of the boxes-7. Each pipe 13 is provided in itsbupper side with a series of small holes 1.4. A main 15 is connected `with each of 4the pipes 13, the'endprof the main being connected with a pump or compressor for the. ,supply of asuita le liquid. or gas. f

'lhe operationof thedevice `is asfollows,

it being assumed that air under pressure is being supplied to the main 15 vand `the branch pipes 113,:L A mixture" or ore and a solution ot solvent such as cyanid, is supplied through the inlettube. This mixture i' is a baille plate4 llsthe space or receptacle between the end throughthe holes 14.; These rupwar movfof i ing jets of air cariywith them a certain amount ot the mlxtureand because ofthe confining influence of the walls of the tube i i .i

7 a considerable velocitvlis `attainedy which w eausesthe mixture of air?o r'e and solution 75 i to impinge against the baille board 9, where on account oftheinclination of the' y bailie board a. considerable portion ofl it is deflected into the spacci, between `theirst' i i .l

and second boxes. 'Thefextended rearedges ggf of the boxes serve to direct the re'ater party f of the deflected material :intot e next ad-v jacent space i1-"receptacle 'andto prevent all except a small portion of yit' from returnmg to the receptacles with which' the lower gg,` ends ot' the boxes are connected. wWhen a, Y

sulicicnt an'iount of`-l`iquid" has accumulated in'thisseeond space" it is forced upward 1 through the second"boxffintothe third.'`

space. This process is continued until the liquid finally 1eaehes'thelast Space' in the third compartment from .whichit 'passes out through thetrough 1L. ,l 'I It is to be noted that every pai-tofthe mixture is brokenfup .into very fine ticles not only once but a number of 'times before :it can reach thedisharge "outletl i The violent impact' of the','p'articlesy of ore against the baille boardst);Stends to sep` :irate them from their ontercoating of sol- `100,`

vent so thatthey are exposed for ,the renewed action of fresh solvent., I have found 1- in actual practice thatby means ofan aglktator embodying my invention it'ris possible 7' to dissolve about eighty fi 'y soluble metals .f1-oniy ore.r vinnabout lifteenul minutes; y. i y lf preferred the cover plates 10maybe re moved though l prefer to .operate the agrita-y tor with them.in place/as they tend' to`pre` Illu vent any sp1-ay ypaseingjapwafrd from they iuteriorbf the tank. In the foregoing description of the operation 'of my V1eviee,` 1f have assumed that com-` pressed air is supplied to the pipes 13.

ever it will be apparentthata eas other thant air may be used yor that ifpreierred a liquid f y I i y 'such as fresh solvent solution may be used. p

Itr iswelllmown'thatan excess of oxygen .n m the -ase otthecyamdffprocess results in`120 the rapid destruction of the cyanid. In the 3; r

modication shown"dia'grammaticallylin Figa. 4. 1 have provided a. -s vsteni'f\vl1ereby thek amount oi oxygen' admittedlto `theagitator may be regulated. The agitator shown ini1`25 Fig. t is similar to that yshown in the`r other figures, with the exceptionthat a' closed out- 'let pipe-Ulis substituted for theopen trough l2.L i7 is an air compressor rwhich supplies` y lhesuctionffuor the com-` air-td the main .215.7

eper centfof the ey y BEST AvAxLABLE coP cles each ednptedto contain e mixture of ore und solvent solution, bafile plates above the receptacles, u series of tubes, each extending from one receptacle toward one bf the bzte` plates, onepof the edges 'of euch of the r said tubes being extended upward beyond the other opposite edge, und means for forcing! masses of the mixture of ore andsolution through each of the said tubes whereby they major portion thereof is engrnigtidr by thebaille plate and deflected into the next adjacent receptucle which is on the opposite Y, side of the Atube from the said upwardwextended edge, substuntullyas set forth.

11. 1n :1 device of the class described7 the combination of u series of adjacent receptacles, euch adapted to contain :i mixture of ore and solvent solution, baie plates above" the receptacles, a series of tubes, each extending from one receptacle toward one of the baffle plates, meansfor forcing masses of the mixture of ore and solution through each of the said tubes, whereby the major portion hereof is engaged by thebnniiilae to be deflected thereby and means for. dn-eet,y 2!v i ing the major portion of the ,saiddeeetedh masses intoithe receptaelewhiehis adiacenti, l

the one from which the said tube leeds,f subi stantially 'as set forth.y i

combinationof u series'of receptacles each et; f i

adapted to contain ajlmxtureofore andrsol-,f

vent solution, batiie'plates above the `ifeoepy tacles, and 'means yforforcing'gsn'mll masses Vof the mixture from'L each recept ma baille plete to be deflected thereby, and,y i y means for directing the major portion ofethe ,y "z A acle against.`

mixture so ,deflected into'the next adjsu'ienty receptacle, substantie-Myne set forth.y n of 

